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takyon writes:

Rocket Lab plans to merge with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), become a publicly traded company, and develop a medium-lift partially reusable rocket. "Neutron" would be competitive with SpaceX's Falcon 9 and capable of launching cargo and astronauts to the International Space Station.

The funding from the SPAC merger will enable another new initiative. Rocket Lab said it is working on a medium-class launch vehicle called Neutron, capable of placing up to 8,000 kilograms into low Earth orbit, more than 20 times the capacity of Electron. The company disclosed few technical details about Neutron, but said that it intends to make the first stage reusable through propulsive landing on an ocean platform, similar to SpaceX's recovery of Falcon 9 first stages.

The new vehicle is intended to support the growing interest in satellite megaconstellations. "Neutron's eight-ton lift capacity will make it ideally sized to deploy satellites in batches to specific orbital planes, creating a more targeted and streamlined approach to building out megaconstellations," Beck said in the statement.

Rocket Lab had previously resisted building a larger vehicle. "There's no market for it," Beck said during a side session of the Smallsat Conference in August 2020. "If you build a larger rocket, you relegate yourself to being purely rideshare, and rideshare is really well-served."

The first Neutron launch is scheduled for 2024 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, Virginia. The vehicle will leverage the infrastructure the company built at Launch Complex 2 there for the Electron rocket, which will make its debut from that pad later this year. Rocket Lab said it's "assessing locations across America" for a factory that would handle large-scale production of Neutron.

Press release.

Also at The Verge and CNBC.

Previously (company history as seen on SN):

Original Submission

1. "takyon" - https://soylentnews.org/~takyon/
2. "Rocket Lab" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Lab
3. "merge with a special-purpose acquisition company" - https://spacenews.com/rocket-lab-to-go-public-through-spac-merger-and-develop-medium-lift-rocket/
4. "SpaceX's Falcon 9" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_9
5. "Press release" - https://www.rocketlabusa.com/about-us/updates/rocket-lab-unveils-plans-for-new-8-ton-class-reusable-rocket-for-mega-constellation-deployment/
6. "The Verge" - https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/1/22306971/rocket-lab-neutron-public-spac
7. "CNBC" - https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/01/rocket-lab-going-public-via-spac-with-neutron-rocket-expansion.html
8. "Rocket Lab Unveils "Electric" Rocket Engine" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=15/04/16/0323203
9. "Moon Express and Rocket Lab Team Up for 2017 Lunar Mission" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=15/10/06/1344218
10. "New Companies Begin to Target the Micro-Satellite Market" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=16/04/27/0236210
11. ""Planet" Purchases 3 Launches from "Rocket Lab"" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=16/07/14/1730258
12. "Rocket Lab Makes Suborbital Launch From New Zealand" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=17/05/25/1158226
13. "Launch of Rocket Lab's Second "Electron" Rocket Due Dec. 7-8" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=17/12/07/0114201
14. "Rocket Lab's Second "Electron" Rocket Launch Succeeds, Reaches Orbit" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=18/01/21/104226
15. "Rocket Lab's Electron Rocket Launched "Humanity Star", a Temporary Source of Light Pollution" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=18/01/25/0140216
16. "Rocket Lab Set to Launch Commercial Payloads on April 20" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=18/04/13/0138233
17. "NASA Awards Launch Contracts to Rocket Lab and Virgin Orbit" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=18/05/15/0114201
18. "Rocket Lab Plans to Build its Next Launch Site in the US" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=18/07/11/1428206
19. "Rocket Lab to Build U.S. Launch Site at Wallops Island, Virginia" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=18/10/18/1428207
20. "Rocket Lab's Modest Launch is Giant Leap for Small Rocket Business" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=18/11/11/2328220
21. "Rocket Lab Set to Launch its First Payloads for NASA" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=18/12/13/0427235
22. "Rocket Lab Mission for NASA Successfully Launches 13 CubeSats" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=18/12/17/1635202
23. "Rocket Lab Successfully Launches R3D2 Mission for DARPA" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/03/29/1512241
24. "Rocket Lab Will Build Satellites for Launch Customers" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/04/10/1442200
25. "Rocket Lab Will Attempt to Recover First Stages Using a Helicopter" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/08/08/0220230
26. "Rocket Lab's Guided Reentry Test Moves Company Closer to Partially Reusable Rockets" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/12/06/2211239
27. "NASA Selects 18 Research CubeSats as Secondary Payloads; Rocket Lab Will Send CubeSat to Lunar Orbit" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=20/02/25/046240
28. "After a Second Stage Failure, Rocket Lab Loses Seven Satellites" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=20/07/05/017238
29. "Rocket Lab Will Resume Missions in August Following Launch Failure" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=20/08/04/2248254
30. "Rocket Lab Secretly Launched its Own Company-made Satellite on Latest Flight" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=20/09/04/0315231
31. "Original Submission" - https://soylentnews.org/submit.pl?op=viewsub&subid=47764

printed from SoylentNews, Rocket Lab Plans to Go Public, Announces Much Larger "Neutron" Rocket on 2024-05-22 01:14:07